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The Perfect Family Brunch – Little Growling Cafe, Tarneit

Little Growling Cafe in Tarneit is about as perfect as family brunching and lunching gets.

I’m not a fan of cafe’s with children’s play areas inside. For toddlers, yes, they are a great idea so that tired parents can put their child down and enjoy a coffee. But those cafes and restaurants with huge indoor play areas where school kids scream around between tables, slam doors and generally make the enjoying of coffee impossible for everyone? No thanks! But there’s hope for all parents yet – because Little Growling Cafe in Tarneit may have just created the PERFECT family brunching spot!!

Kids can tear around on the HUGE slides, trampolines, flying fox and awesome swing, while parents get their caffeine fix and some delicious food inside. The cafe overlooks the park, with floor to ceiling glass windows and a wrap around deck – so if your kids don’t need close supervision, you can kick back and relax and watch them make new friends and play to their hearts content outside.

Adnan (pictured) left his corporate job to set up Little Growling with his wife, like many, looking for the opportunity to be his own boss and establish a family business in the thriving Western Suburbs. And they have picked a great spot – the cafe, created by Stockland as part of The Grove community, is a beautiful space and has stunning views out to the surrounding countryside. If you get there early in the mornings (they are open 6 days a week from 7:30am) – sitting on the steps by the cafe, taking in the scenery with with a hot coffee really is a lovely way to while away a few quiet moments.

Ads has a simple ethos – great (excellent) coffee and healthy, fresh food – much of which is baked daily on the premises. Quality is the focus here, from the small touches like branded cups and napkins, to the carefully chosen suppliers, some real thought has gone into the cafe. I know it’s a little luxury to get excited about, but who doesn’t love Noisette sourdough with lashings of real butter, and you might recognise the sweet treats at the counter from South Melbourne Market, where Ad’s Mother-in-Law, has been selling her home-baked amazing Turkish treats for years.

At the counter you’ll find freshly baked cakes and muffins and sandwiches, as well as some cute little jars of granola and tropical fruits (above). And that jar of Turkish Delight by the till – it is DELICIOUS, it’s 50c, and you need to eat that!!!

The menu is very keenly priced, almost everything is under $10 – which makes it a very tempting proposition when you have some bored kids on your hands! We’ve been there a few times already and it’s well worth the trip for a good hour or so of playtime and a bite to eat. I’m not sure where else in the West you’ll find smoked salmon and avocado for under $10 – it’s the perfect breakfast as far as I am concerned. Sometimes you just don’t want a massive plateful of food (or to pay $18 for the pleasure). For $9.50 this is great quality food, at a very affordable price and Little Growling is suddenly somewhere you could pop into several times a week – which is of course, what we have done!

So, what’s not to love? Well, if I wanted to be super-picky, I could say that one of my baked eggs was a little overcooked – but honestly I’m scraping the barrel. Little Growling has so much going for it. Yes, at the moment it will take you a little trip out to Tarneit (assuming you don’t live there of course!), but the park more than makes up for the mileage, as does the coffee, great food and the management team.

If you haven’t visited Little Growling cafe yet – it is definitely one for the list!